Cole, Simpson and Kerrigan win feature races

ELMA — The sun was out and shining bright as the Washington Modified Tour, 360 Sprint Cars and Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks took to the three-eighths-mile banked clay oval on Saturday night in front of a large crowd at Grays Harbor Raceway.

Street Stocks

Austin Kerrigan of Aberdeen and Montesano driver Scott Fritts set the front row of the 20-lap Street Stocks feature. Kerrigan took the early lead, but the caution flag flew for Shelton’s Scott Semanko, spinning to a stop in turn one. Kerrigan once again took the early lead on the restart,with Fritts and Matt White of Aberdeen looking to chase him down. Kerrigan extended his lead by close to a straightaway, but all of that was erased as the caution flew on lap 7 for Dave Larson of Olympia. The restart saw another yellow flag, this time for Kirk McGinnis of Renton and hard contact by Samantha Stevens of Shelton. Both drivers were OK. The battle for second late in the feature saw Fritts, White and Zack Simpson of Aberdeen race three wide for position. White moved into the second position by running the high side of the raceway. Kerrigan continued to keep the rest of the field behind him and picked up the feature win. White, Simpson, Jack Parshall of Hoquiam,and Fritts rounded out the top five. Heat race winners were Kerrigan and Parshall, with Kerrigan picking up fast time.

360 Sprint Cars

Spanaway’s Lance Sargent led the field to the green flag, but quickly the yellow flew for a spinning Chris Bullock of Arlington. On the restart, Shelton’s Jay Cole took command of the lead, with Travis Jacobson of Lake Stevens moving into second. Austen Wheatley, another Lake Stevens driver, moved into third, looking to track down Cole and Jacobson. Cole put slight distance between himself and Jacobson as lapped traffic quickly became a factor. The battle for fifth between Jason Reed of Elma and Sargent was one of the many battles to watch. Lap 12 saw Reed make hard contact into the turn one wall after contact with a lapped car, ending his evening. On the restart, Cole led Wheatley and Jacobson as Devon Borden of Raymond ran fourth. Lapped traffic became a huge factor again as Bailey Sucich of Granite Falls spun, collecting Wheatley and Borden, who were running second and fourth, respectively, and bringing out the red flag. On the restart, Cole had Jacobson on his back bumper waiting to strike. A five-lap dash to the checkered flag saw Jacobson make a move, but couldn’t complete the pass. Cole picked up the win over Jacobson, Sargent, Everett’s Tyler Anderson and Colton Heath of Marysville. Heat race winners were Anderson, Mill Creek’s Cam Smith, and Reed, with Wheatley picking up fast time.

Washington Modified Tour

Twenty-six Modifieds signed in for the Washington Modified Tour, as 20 cars started the 25-lap feature. Mount Vernon’s Rick Smith led the field to the green flag, but it was Warren, Oregon’s, Jeremy Martin that took the early lead. Lane Zerbin of Campbell River, BC, moved into the second spot. A three-car battle ensued between Rick Smith, Scott Miller of Shelton and Aberdeen’s Zack Simpson. The high side was the best way around as Simpson moved into third. Zerbin and Simpson stayed close to Martin, not letting him get comfortable with the lead. Multiple battles throughout the field saw some very exciting racing, including a pack of cars battling for sixth. Simpson moved into second, getting by Zerbin on lap 8. Lap 10 saw the caution flag fly for Devan West of Shelton, making contact with a tractor tire on the backstretch and spinning to a stop. On the restart, Martin stayed low as Simpson worked the middle groove of the banked clay oval. BJ Wild of Redmond, Ore, who transferred out of the B-Main, battled with Miller, racing hard for the fourth position for a handful of laps before taking the spot. Simpson looked in turn four to take the top spot away from Martin, successfully taking over the lead and going on to pick up the win. Zerbin, Martin, Wild and Miller rounded out the top five. Heat race winners were Miller, Zerbin and Martin, with Port Hardy, BC, driver Lawrence O’Connor winning the B-Main.

Racing will resume in two weeks. Next Saturday the raceway will go dark as the 48th Annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup will take place up at Skagit Speedway. The GHR oval will roar to life in two weeks on June 28-29 with the Fred Brownfield Classic, featuring the Lucas Oil ASCS National Sprint Car Series and Northwest Focus Midgets Series. For more information on that event, check out www.graysharborraceway.com

Cut Rate Auto Parts Street Stocks

Fast Time: AK47 Austin Kerrigan

Heat 1: 1. AK47 Austin Kerrigan, 2. 12 Zack Simpson, 3. 24B Matt White, 4. 4 Scott Semanko, 5. 00 Kirk McGinnis, 6. 914 Tanner Bridges, 7. 61 Dave Larson, 8. 55 Samantha Stevens

Heat 2: 1. 9 Jack Parshall, 2. 42 Scott Fritts, 3. 19 Taylor Miller, 4. 97 Rodger Perry, 5. 11 Daryl Brumfield, 6. 75 Jared Stevens, 7. 1s Cory Sweatman

A-Main: 1. Kerrigan, 2. White, 3. Simpson, 4. Parshall, 5. Fritts, 6. Perry, 7. Jared Stevens, 8. Bridges, 9. Semanko, 10. Larson, 11. Sweatman, 12. Samantha Stevens, 13. Brumfield, 14. McGinnis

360 Sprint Cars

Fast Time: 44W Austen Wheatley

Heat 1: 1. 24 Tyler Anderson, 2. 9s Shawn Rice, 3. 44W Austen Wheatley, 4. 17C Chris Bullock, 5. 8 Devon Borden, 6. 17D Dana Glenn, 7. 66 John Keller

Heat 2: 1. 17 Cam Smith, 2. 33s Lance Sargent, 3. 33 Colton Heath, 4. 0J Jay Cole, 5. 6 Brayten Davison, 6. 9 Michael Millard

Heat 3: 1. 97R Jason Reed, 2. 15 Jeff Dunlap, 3. 3 Chance Crum, 4. 22X Travis Jacobson, 5. 14B Bailey Sucich, 6. 151 Duke Johnson

A-Main: 1. Cole, 2. Jacobson, 3. Sargent, 4. Anderson, 5. Heath, 6. Crum, 7. Smith, 8. Rice, 9. Davison, 10. Johnson, 11. Dunlap, 12. Millard, 13. Bullock, 14. Glenn, 15. Sucich, 16. Keller, 17. Wheatley, 18. Borden, 19. Reed

Washington Modified Tour

Heat 1: 1. 26 Scott Miller, 2. 8W Rick Smith, 3. 7K Kevin Smith, 4. 11s Tom Sweatman, 5. 45 Tiana Wild, 6. 8 Steve Bulpitt, 7. 41 Tim Phillips, 8. 5R Robert Jenner, 9. 1W Dan West Jr.

Heat 2: 1. 81 Lane Zerbin, 2. 43K Shane Kerrigan, 3. 91 Chris Beaulieu, 4. 19 Brad Martin, 5. 714 Zach Fuller, 6. 27 Lawrence O’Connor, 7. 12 BJ Wild, 8. 5W Devan West, 9. 34T Jason Tole, 10. 75 Casey Smith

Heat 3: 1. 99 Jeremy Martin 2. 12 Zack Simpson, 3. 28 Brian Harding, 4. 87K Brenton Schnitzer, 5. 97 Tyson Blood, 6. 14K Kyler Moore, 7. 58 David Wolfard, 8. 51M Craig Moore, 9. 42 Kevin Hanson

B-Main: 1. O’Connor, 2. Kyler Moore, 3. Devan West, 4. BJ Wild, 5. Craig Moore, 6. Wolfard, 7. Tole, 8. Casey Smith, 9. Bulpitt, 10. Hanson, 11. Phillips

A-Main: 1. Simpson, 2. Zerbin, 3. Jeremy Martin, 4. BJ Wild, 5. Miller, 6. Brad Martin, 7. Kevin Smith, 8. Beaulieu, 9. Kyler Moore, 10. Sweatman, 11. O’Connor, 12. Devan West, 13. Craig Moore, 14. Rick Smith, 15. Harding, 16. Blood, 17. Schnitzer, 18. Kerrigan, 19. Tiana Wild, 20. Fuller

Cole, Simpson and Kerrigan win feature races